Astrology is like a second skin for me. And life as an astrologer can be a bit, well, strange. Having studied planetary influences since the age of 10, I'm intuitively aware of what the planets are doing at any given time, and how their energies might affect me, people close to me, or the world at large.

If a psychic were to look at my aura, she would undoubtedly see imaginary planets swirling around my head. What's more, because people and their charts are so closely connected in my mind, I usually see the chart of the friend or client I'm speaking with, floating beside their head (or thereabouts). This is especially noticeable if they're telling me about a specific challenge or opportunity that's come up. Then the planet responsible will sort of pop out. He broke up with you? Well, no wonder, with Uranus afflicting your Venus (Uranus takes a bow). It's like having two sets of discussions, one with the person and one with their chart.

People often ask me if I live my life by planetary influences. Like, would I dare sign an important document during retrograde Mercury, which is notorious for paperwork snafus? Well, yes I would -- and did -- when I signed my mortgage papers, no less. However, I certainly kept a keen eye out for mistakes, and I did find some erroneous charges a week later. So although planetary influences usually don't stop me from doing something (unless Saturn or Pluto is the culprit, then you don't have much choice in the matter), I'm at least aware of which unseen energies might derail what I'm trying to do.

For instance, take ethereal Neptune, the planet of escapism. This enticing influence can lure you away from the real world and into the Twilight Zone. When Neptune was afflicting my Sun in Taurus recently, I'd frequently get lost in whatever held my attention at that moment. For instance, I lost time spending an hour on an email to a friend when I should have been paying bills and balancing my checkbook. Did I really need to go into such detail about my trip to Seattle? No, not really, but I didn't want to deal with the bills, hence the brilliant (but wordy) email from the Twilight Zone.

My favorite aspect of astrology is chart comparisons. When my friend Eileen introduced me to Al, my future husband, I immediately cast his chart to get the inside scoop on his character and to see if we were compatible. To my delight, his planets aligned beautifully with mine. But I didn't stop there. Shortly after we began dating, I invited him to lunch to meet some friends of mine -- all astrologers and psychics. He knew he was being thoroughly vetted by my intuitive friends, but he was a good sport about it, and he got their seal of approval. We've been married for 15 wonderful years.

Speaking of marriage . . . As in tune as I am with the planets, I'm not infallible when it comes to planning ahead. One humongous goof, if you can believe this, was miscalculating my marriage chart. Yes, a wedding has an astrology chart, which is cast at the completion of the ceremony. Well, I'd analyzed prospective wedding dates throughout the year and came up with an auspicious date -- on a Thursday in October. Then, for whatever reason (perhaps the craziness of flying from Colorado to Los Angeles for the wedding), I got the time wrong. So instead of a stable, prosperous Taurus ascendant, our marriage has an adventurous, impulsive Aries ascendant. Man plans and God laughs, as the saying goes. Apparently my stodgy Earth nature needed a dose of daring.

But I don't use astrology for just the big stuff. One fun use of astrology is choosing a movie based on the current Moon sign (the Moon moves through one sign every two-and-a-half days). If it's in Aries, I'll see an action film. If it's in Leo, a romantic film would be my choice. This film-watching method can make you incredibly in-sync with the story and characters. Not surprising, since the Moon influences the emotions. The first time I noticed this link between Moon signs and movies was in 1997, when I saw the science fiction flick Contact starring Jodi Foster and Matthew McConaughey. The Moon was in Scorpio at the time, and not only are both stars Scorpios, but so was Carl Sagan, whose book the film is based on. I was completely captivated by the film, no doubt thanks to the Moon and her sensitizing influence.

Whether it's movies or marriage, astrology has been life's roadmap for me. And knowing there is a roadmap -- otherwise known as the Universal Plan -- is tremendously comforting.